OSAKA -- Former Takatsuki Mayor Toshio Emura on Saturday decided to run in an October Lower House by-election in the Osaka No. 10 constituency backed by the main opposition Democratic Party of Japan, party officials said.
The seat was vacated by Kiyomi Tsujimoto of the Social Democratic Party in late March. She quit as a lawmaker to take responsibility for the misappropriation of her secretary's state-paid salary.
Emura, 77, made headlines in April 1999 when he gave up his position as the mayor of Takatsuki, Osaka Prefecture, in the middle of his fourth four-year term to take care of his ailing wife.
It is considered extremely rare for a Japanese man in a position of responsibility to leave the post for a domestic reason.